Catheter

Abstract

The invention relates to a catheter for introducing into a hollow human or animal organ. Said catheter comprises a catheter tip that protrudes forwards and a region that is encased by an expandable tubular hollow body and that is situated behind the catheter tip. Said catheter is characterised in that a wire spiral is located in the encased region. It can also be advantageous to provide a radiopaque ring, in particular a platinum, gold or tungsten ring, on a hollow shaft of the catheter, together with several rib-type projections running around the hollow shaft and projecting from the latter, in a region in front of and/or behind the radiopaque ring.

1 . A catheter to be inserted into a hollow organ of a human or an animal, comprising a forwardly projecting catheter tip, wherein a region encased by an expandable tubular hollow body is arranged behind the catheter tip, characterized in that a wire helix is arranged in the encased region. 
     
     
         2 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that a longitudinal axis of the wire helix is arranged coaxially to a longitudinal axis of the catheter and in that, more particularly, the wire helix extends from a front end of the expandable tubular hollow body to a rear end of the expandable tubular hollow body in a longitudinal direction, which runs parallel to the longitudinal axis of the catheter. 
     
     
         3 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the wire helix is arranged within a hollow shaft of the catheter arranged within the encased region, wherein it is preferably an innermost hollow shaft of the catheter. 
     
     
         4 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the hollow shaft is fitted to the wire helix such that an outer surface of the hollow shaft substantially corresponds to an outer contour of the wire helix. 
     
     
         5 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1  characterized in that the wire helix has an external diameter of 0.2-0.5 mm and a wire diameter of 30-100 μm. 
     
     
         6 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that a straight-line inner wire is attached within the wire helix, with the former being connected to the wire helix in a punctiform fashion at one or more connection regions. 
     
     
         7 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 6 , characterized in that the wire helix and the straight-line inner wire are brazed together in the connection regions using radiopaque filler, more particularly silver filler, wherein the connection regions form radiopaque regions of the catheter. 
     
     
         8 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the wire helix consists of radiopaque material, more particularly platinum, gold or tungsten. 
     
     
         9 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 8 , characterized in that a plurality of adjacent windings of the wire helix are arranged abutting one another and thus form a radiopaque region of the catheter. 
     
     
         10 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that adjacent windings are arranged without touching and spaced apart for producing a radiolucent region of the wire helix, and so there preferably is a spacing between the individual windings corresponding to at least double, more particularly triple, the wire diameter. 
     
     
         11 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 10 , characterized in that a plurality of radiopaque regions and a plurality of radiolucent regions of the wire helix are arranged alternately and more particularly at regular intervals for marking the length. 
     
     
         12 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that there are at least two expandable tubular hollow bodies arranged lying coaxially above one another. 
     
     
         13 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that an actuatable balloon is arranged as expandable tubular hollow body. 
     
     
         14 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 13 , characterized in that the balloon has a coating, wherein the coating contains at least one medicament. 
     
     
         15 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that a medical implant, more particularly a stent, is arranged as an expandable tubular hollow body, which is preferably fitted to an outer contour of the wire helix. 
     
     
         16 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 15 , characterized in that the medical implant has a coating, wherein the coating contains at least one medicament. 
     
     
         17 . The catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the catheter tip is basically designed as a flexible helical spring. 
     
     
         18 . A catheter, more particularly as claimed in  claim 4 , to be inserted into a hollow organ of a human or an animal, comprising a forwardly projecting catheter tip and a hollow shaft, characterized in that a radiopaque ring, more particularly made of platinum, gold or tungsten, is arranged on the hollow shaft, wherein the hollow shaft has a plurality of rib-like projections surrounding the hollow shaft and projecting from the latter in a region in front of and/or behind the radiopaque ring. 
     
     
         19 . A method for producing a catheter, more particularly a catheter as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that a wire helix is surrounded by an expandable, tubular hollow body, more particularly a stent and/or an actuatable balloon. 
     
     
         20 . The method as claimed in  claim 19 , characterized in that the wire helix is compressed in a first region and stretched in a second region, which directly adjoins the first region, prior to an application of the expandable tubular hollow body. 
     
     
         21 . The method as claimed in  claim 19 , characterized in that the wire helix is inserted into a hollow shaft of the catheter prior to an application of the expandable tubular hollow body and the hollow shaft is subsequently fitted to an outer contour of the wire helix. 
     
     
         22 . A method for producing a catheter, more particularly a catheter as claimed in  claim 18 , characterized in that a radiopaque ring is attached to the hollow shaft and in that the hollow shaft is subsequently compressed in a longitudinal direction of the hollow shaft in a plurality of regions in front of the radiopaque ring and/or in a plurality of regions behind the radiopaque ring for the formation of rib-like projections.